Perth Voice Interactive

Shelves in Coles Maylands were left bare as thousands of items were dumped. Photo by James Kozak

COLES’ Maylands supermarket sent a truck-full of perfectly edible food to the tip last week after not adequately preparing for a planned power outage.

Customers arrriving at the Coles on Thursday October 13 were greeted with signs taped to its meat, dairy and frozen aisles saying “due to power outage all refrigation products are unable to be sold”.

Local resident Mark Mennell saw a conga line of Coles employees piling trolley after trolley into a skip bin at the rear of the store which was quickly hauled away by a Cleanaway truck.

“I felt angry at the quantity of obviously good food that was just being chucked out, especially animal products where the animals suffered needlessly,” Mr Mennell told the Voice.

“The power outage was planned so (this) could have been avoided.”

Maylands resident James Kozak interrogated the Cleanaway truck driver and Coles employees to no avail, noting that the truck was “trailing a stream of milk all the way”.

Back at the supermarket all its refrigerated and frozen shelving was bare.

Mr Kozac said he decided to try the nearby IGA and he was shocked by the contrast.

“IGA’s shelves were operating as usual; fully stocked with the freshest of items and a great selection,” he said.

Employees told him after Western Power notified them about the power outage, they hired a generator.

Mr Kozak described Coles’ waste of food, which comes amidst global shortages exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, as a “crime against humanity”.

PR blitz

Last year Coles adopted, amidst a PR blitz, a Together to Zero sustainability campaign which claimed the company was aiming to “divert 85 per cent of solid waste from landfill” by 2025 and to maximise “food waste diversion opportunities in stores”.

“Commencing Sunday July 25, the campaign highlights Coles’ aspiration towards zero waste, zero emissions and zero hunger and encourages all Australians to work together to ensure Australia is a better place for future generations,” the company said in a press release at the campaign’s launch.

The Voice contacted Coles for a comment, but the company refused.

by JESSICA HYLAND

ARTISTS have flocked to support the pioneering biological art research lab SymbioticA after UWA moved to shut it down.

The centre’s social media account announced on October 13: “The University of Western Australia has started a process to shut SymbioticA down and we have eight working days to make a case as to why it should continue.”

It follows deep staff cuts in 2021 which gutted social science departments.

SymbioticA studios were founded in UWA’s Department of Anatomy and Human Biology in 2000 to carry out transdisciplinary research melding science and art, working in disciplines like bio-art where living tissue is incorporated into artworks. 

The university funds 2.2 full-time-equivalent positions, but the money for projects typically comes from external grants and partnerships.

“We were the first initiative of its kind anywhere in the world,” Symbiotica director and artist Oron Catts told the Voice. 

“It’s basically an artistic research lab that deals with biology in the most hands-on way.”

An early project used neuronal activity from artificially reared fish cells to guide a computer to draw.

Catts, who’s one of three founders, says UWA has proposed “a total closure of SymbioticA” by withdrawing funding for the staff.

“We have students, and I’m really worried about those,” he said.

“Along with research and arts projects the centre runs a two-year Masters of Biological Arts program, and some students who recently started still have several semesters left.

“It will cause huge damage to UWA’s reputation,” Catts says.

Artist Kira O’Reilly did a residency with SymbioticA in 2003-2004 and is now at the Bioart Society in Helsinki. She started an online petition to save the centre and in five days gathered 5800 petitions and rising as the Voice went to print. 

Artists from across the world who’ve been influenced by SymbioticA have lent their support with signatures and letters.

Seeing the words of support flood in, Catts says “it’s like being at my own funeral”.

SymbioticA’s response to UWA is due October 25 but they are requesting an extension given the tight deadline.

UPDATE:

We put questions about Symbiotica’s future to UWA, and their media team’s response states the uni’s looking for “genuine consultation” with colleagues and no decision’s been made yet:
“The University is proud of its strong links to arts and culture in the Western Australian community and continues to be committed to offering a vibrant collection of programs, displays and performances spanning music, theatre, museums, galleries and publishing.
“Last week, the University commenced consultation with the School of Human Sciences regarding the proposed cessation of SymbioticA, which is an artistic laboratory that provides artists and designers with access to science and engineering laboratories. “The University acknowledges the commitment respective employees have brought to SymbioticA in establishing an international reputation over the years. Like many universities, UWA is faced with the need to manage its finances in order to secure long term sustainability and strategic alignment.
“At this stage it is important to note that this is a proposal for change and no decision has been made on the future of SymbioticA, as we undergo genuine consultation with colleagues at this time.”

by DAVID BELL

THE inner city is set to get a second statue of a woman within a year, with Perth councillor Sandy Anghie personally funding a commemoration of Edith Cowan. 

The Perth CBD has an army of blokes cast in bronze but until this year there were as many statues of kangaroos as there were women (three each).

Then in June a statue of Aboriginal resistance figure Fanny Balbuk Yooreel (1840-1907) designed by sculptors Joan Walsh-Smith and Charles Smith was unveiled on the grounds of Government House. It was the first woman on the statue-heavy St Georges Terrace.

Cr Anghie has been keen on getting more statues of women in the city and moved a notice of motion at the August 2021 council meeting that the City of Perth investigate a new statue for women. It was voted down, so she’s put her money where her motion was and bankrolled the Edith Cowan statue. 

“In March this year, around International Women’s Day, I started calling around with the intention of starting a fundraising campaign for a statue of a woman on St Georges Terrace in Perth,” Cr Anghie told us via email.

“One of the first people I called was Lesley Williams, the president of the Karrakatta Club. She made me aware of an existing proposal by the Studio of Smith Sculptors. It was serendipitous. The proposal was for a statue of Edith Cowan.

“The story of Edith Cowan is truly inspirational. A story that transcends time and politics. 

A woman that should be recognised and celebrated for her contribution to our city and our state with an enduring visual reminder.”

Cr Anghie and her husband Michael are donating $245,000 for the statue and artists Ms Walsh-Smith and Mr Smith 

are returning to sculpt it at a reduced rate. They want to put it outside the Karrakatta Club at Anzac House at 28 St Georges Terrace. Ms Cowan was involved in founding the club in 1894 to advocate for women and help them enter public life. It would be within sight of the Balbuk statue.

It would be freely gifted to Perth council, which still needs to approve the location, and Cr Anghie had to step out of the chamber while her colleagues discussed whether it was the right spot at this week’s council briefing.

For a gifted statue it ended up undergoing more scrutiny than the Trojan horse, and councillors demurred over the location and potential ongoing maintenance costs (about $1000 a year for cleaning).

Lord mayor Basil Zempilas suggested what he considers a more appropriate spot. 

“In my mind we’re constructing Edith Cowan University right in the heart of the city. And I don’t think there’s any doubt of the enormous achievements of Edith Cowan – I don’t think anyone in the community would doubt those.

“But how is this site 

[Karrakatta Club] better than at the front of the very university that bears her name and would honour her in the heart of the city?”

Karrakatta Club president Lesley Williams was on hand to say the Karrakatta Club building was highly significant to Ms Cowan, and it also hosts the RSL (Edith Cowan was a key figure in the RSL’s predecessor, the Welcome Soldiers Institute). 

Karrakatta Club past president Norrine Anderson also explained the artists’ vision of Cowan standing across from Balbuk, capturing a moment in time when both walked the streets of Perth. 

The council makes the final call at the full meeting on October 25.

VETERAN artist David Grant spent 10 years drawing 106 models to create more than 1000 works, with sessions accompanied by conversations ranging from heartfelt to scandalous.

“Relationships,” he says, was a common topic that arose as subjects opened up so readily while posing. “Life and relationships in Perth.”

Originally from Zimbabwe, Grant says “I trained as a master of fine arts at Rhodes University” in the late 1960s, then came to Perth in 2000.

For many years he ran regular art classes from his Mount Hawthorn studio, but less frequently now. Grant has Kennedy’s Disease, causing progressive loss of muscle. 

He uses a wheelchair now and he’s moved from visual arts mainly to writing. 

“I used to teach 4-5 days a week. Now I’m down to one day.”

But during a frenetic decade of drawing he embarked on the Bodies on the Line project, which he describes as a “collaboration” with the models, many of whom lent their thoughts to the artwork in the form of short passages in their own handwriting reflecting the conversations held while posing.

Grant saw some common themes. “There was a great number of 30-year-old women who were looking for a man in their lives,” he says. “But they didn’t like men.”

One had found a gent, but decided he was too “vanilla”.

Grant recalls the first model to mention she’d opted to retain a stable of younger male partners.

“I found that very weird,” he says. “But I’m a very old man. 

“But after I spoke to her, that became a theme,” with a number of models announcing non-monogamy.

The men held surprises too. 

“Alwyn was a bouncer in Northbridge,” Grant recalls. “Very strong. Very physical. But very good with words,” a deep thinker even standing at his post. “Don’t expect people to be stereotypical. They’re not.”

For many models posing was subtly therapeutic, becoming more comfortable over a series of drawings, sometimes starting clothed and later opting to pose nude.

“In my experience when people pose nude they are less guarded, and they talk more. 

“Being drawn, you’ve got to sit in one position for 45 minutes to an hour, and while you’re sitting there you let your guard go.”

Sometimes the therapeutic aspect was more overt. A model, Kat, who’d posed with him before, suffered an accident during the years of the project.

“Her and her mother were trying to start a fire in the backyard,” Grant says. Accelerant spilled. “She got severe burns.”

But she returned to pose, and became more comfortable with repeated drawings. 

“I did a series of eight of her with her with her burns. And it brought her closure. She was very happy.”

Looking Back – Bodies on the Line runs at YMCA HQ Gallery, 60a Frame Court Leederville, weekdays until October 27. 

Plans for the redesign to be occupied by Nokturnl

NEW designs have been released for the do-over of the failed Yagan Square, a public space that’s struggled to attract respectable crowds even with the addition of an on-site police garrison.

State Labor’s Perth MP John Carey this week announced “a new chapter for Yagan Square” with the signing of a deal with hospitality operator Nokturnl that’ll gift them a $5.4 million state government contribution. 

They’ll reconfigure Market Hall, which was a food-court style arrangement that never had much success attracting customers or keeping tenants, into a multi-venue pub like their Old Synagogue in Fremantle and The Beaufort in Highgate.

“The previous model of Yagan Square has not worked,” Mr Carey said in his announcement, giving a blunt review of the project that was started by the previous Liberal government.

“The reconfigured Market Hall will follow the successful approach adopted at Nokturnl’s other venues, and will feature venues suitable to all age groups.”

But the redesign’s drawn a sprinkling criticisms from commentors who say the addition of a giant multi-venue mega-pub comes at the cost of one of the few reasons worth visiting the square: The upper level kids’ water playground.

One critic calling on the state not to throw the baby pool out with the bathwater was former Perth councillor Reece Harley, who said “literally the only reason we ever visit Yagan square is for the kids water playground on the rooftop.

“Seems that’s being demolished for a lettable tenancy. Perth City is such an incredibly unfriendly destination for families with children.”

Mr Carey said he didn’t agree the water play space was overly popular with families. Unfortunately it was popular with troublemakers. 

“The advice from DevelopmentWA, who manages the site, was that that particular playground in its top location was one of the most problematic areas of Yagan Square for antisocial behaviour, and that’s because of its location which is out of the way,” Mr Carey told the Voice.

“We had to do something.”

He says of the redesigned square: “It will be a family-friendly venue. 

“There isn’t a replica of the playground from upstairs, but there will be a family-friendly play component that will be part of the venue.”

by DAVID BELL

WHO was the first person to swim in Beatty Park pool? Sixty years on from the centre’s opening it remains a contested historical question, and this week the Vincent Local History Centre brings us the stories of a few of those who claim the mantel of first one in. 

OVER the years there have been many stories and legends associated with the pool, including the story of the first swimmer. 

The first ‘official’ swimmer in the pool was Herb Taylor, a former WA State swimmer who christened the pool on the night of the official Council inspection on October 30,1962. 

The first swimmer to unofficially christen the pool is a bit less clear. 

Some say it was Len Spence, the project manager who worked night and day at Beatty Park from November 1961 until its opening in November 1962.

Spence was a New Zealand-born carpenter and builder with a special knowledge of concrete construction, which landed him the job of managing the build at Beatty Park. 

After a year of dealing with various challenges, including a last-minute plumber’s strike that threatened completion of the pool, Len was relieved to deliver the project on schedule for the British Empire and Commonwealth Games.

According to his wife Joyce, Len and his three daughters dived into the pool when it was first being filled to help stir the sediment and move the water through the filters. 

Thrilled

“He was very thrilled with his pool. He was a swimmer and I think he just wanted to be the first one to swim in it. He got a wonderful ‘hoy’ from all the men who were working there.” 

The local newspapers carried stories of various other ‘first swimmers’, including five-year-old Gemma Hounslow, the daughter of the Beatty Park assistant manager Rod Hounslow. 

A frog called ‘Ferdie’, which was found in shallow water during a pool inspection on 18 August 18, 1962 was also feted in the papers as Beatty Park’s first swimmer. 

Another first swimmer story is told by local resident and former CBC Highgate ‘old boy’ Peter Kora. Peter and a group of young mates, including former Vincent mayor Nick Catania, broke into Beatty Park for a cheeky swim on November 22, 1962, the night before the pool officially opened for the Commonwealth Games. 

“We climbed the fence and then we just slid into the water. We thought, this is wonderful, we were the first ones in the Empire Games pool. Anyhow, one of the guys decided to dive off the diving board. He dived and made a big splash and, of course, the guard spotted this. We scurried along, getting out of the place, running down Vincent Street with this gentleman trying to chase us … So we christened the pool – it was the highlight of my life!” 

Peter’s story has been captured as part of the Beatty Park: Sixty Years video series. The videos are available at http://www.beattypark.com.au/about/sixty-years 

If you have memories or photos of Beatty Park you’d like to share, please get in touch with the City of Vincent Local History Centre at local.history@vincent.wa.gov.au

EVER looked at your clutter and had the urge to give things new life instead of hauling them onto the verge for the compactor?

Ella and the Useless Day from WA author and illustrator duo Meg McKinlay and Karen Blair gives upcycling a fun twist for kids – but with an important message about looking after the planet.

Ella’s house if full of useless items. Once she and her dad decide to have a clean-up day, something very curious happens. Maybe what is useless to them is treasure to someone else?

Upcycling’s become the trendy thing in their hometown Fremantle; repurposing things but leaving them recognisable from their previous self. McKinlay says it’s part of a circular economy in the port city.

Ella and the Useless Day is “full Freo”, she said.

It was McKinlay’s own experience of cleaning out her family home that provided the raw materials for the story. 

McKinlay says it’s interesting how the popular saying Reduce, Reuse, Recycle puts recycling at the end, by which time stuff has already been labelled rubbish. Upcycling focuses on the reuse.

Her latest creation is a new trellis made from old bike wheels which now proudly fills her garden.

“The sheer amount of people in the world makes it difficult to send as little we can to landfill,” says McKinlay.

Blair, who provided the illustrations, said “we have a responsibility to show values when writing for children, not just selling a product”.

She included patchwork in her illustrations, saying fabric was an early starter in the upcycling movement. Families handed down and repurposed clothing, on the way creating connections through the generations.

Initially the collaboration was indirect as both the author and illustrator communicated via the publisher, and it wasn’t till Blair had some early sketches that they came together.

She said McKinlay’s adaptability with language and turn of phrase gave her the idea for the characters.

“There’s a joyfulness in the characters by using a suitable style that matched the text,” she said.

“A bit of a 1970s vibe from the words ‘fantastically ‘funky’.”

McKinlay said living in artsy Fremantle, particularly its colourful Street Arts Festival, had influenced her writing.

Blair, who’s hovered around Freo for about 20 years but really settled in a decade ago, says it’s a creative and eclectic commuity.

“Fremantle is also embracing, and there’s a way of being in the world,” she says, adding locals are open to communicating and passing things on. 

For readers, Blair said making a small difference in the world every day can bring about change, while McKinlay said embracing an idea can help start spreading the message.

While McKinlay is always working on something, she says when a box of newly printed books arrives she takes a moment. Travelling to bookstores and signing copies is an act of celebrating.

The pair are already working on a new book anticipated for 2024, How to Make a Bedtime, while Blair is working on her own book When I am Big as well as a couple of other smaller project.

It’s her first year as a full-time illustrator and already she’s in hot demand.

McKinlay is well established in the port’s literary circles, having published 15 picture books and five novels; but she’s also faced many rejection letters. 

“It’s not easy to get published, which can be disheartening, and you need inner motivation to keep going,” she said.

She said a good editor was worth their weight in gold, so it was important to pick the right one from a very big field.

“An editor will help make writing so much stronger.”

Ella and the Useless Day
Meg McKinlay and